I am an old? enginner too (53) and also spent long days with pencil.Perhaps pencil give us more time to think , that is for me the key.Our minds were centered in designing. Today OS troubles, incompatible formats , hangings , software operations not fully understood... Management thinks that a 600h course on CAD is more valuable that the same time studiing old mechanic , electricity , etc. But you will need a full knowledge of materials , processes and phisics in general to make a good design.On the other hand software vendors place a lot of features on CAD/CAM software that you don't need.In my group there are some young engineers. We design a lot of parts every week, and I always need to ask young fellows not to start using the computer from the beginning of a task. Solutions must be in their minds and unfortunatly computers do not think. So, for me is still time for our brains, young people must develop theirs with the best formation possible. And CAD is the powerfull tool (only a tool) that I have found in my long days as engineer.Sorry for my poor english.